Champion's Fate
by YetAnotherFF-Fan
Summary: Samus responds to a distress call from a remote mining planet to make some quick money, but finds more than she expected...
1. A saga begins

Author's Note: This is my first ever fanfic, yay! I've played every game to date in the Metroid Series (excluding Zero Mission), and I have completed Super, Prime and Fusion, and thus have all the plot knowledge that comes from completing those. I have tried my best to keep in continuity with the series, but if I make a mistake feel free to correct me :). Speaking of which… please tell me what you think of my work!  
Only this story is mine, all else belongs to the good people at Nintendo.  
Anyway, on to…

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**Chapter 1: A Saga Begins**

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Space. It stretched on endlessly, the eternal darkness dotted with distant stars, nebulae and comets as if the cosmos itself was being torn apart by millions of tiny pinholes leading to another place. You could see an incalculable distance, perhaps even beyond the bounds of explored space, into realms where man had not yet tre-  
There was a wave of dissipating blue energy and a noise like the spitting of a wet candle as a pea-sized asteroid was destroyed by the ship's collision protection field.  
Samus jerked her head back from the cockpit window in reaction, then sighed heavily and settled back into the chair of her Hunter craft. It had been an un-eventful few months, with no contact from the Federation, and Samus herself was in no hurry to deliver herself to the people who may or may not still be livid about the destruction of a planet under research and its orbital space station, not to mention the hordes of potential bio-weapons onboard. They would most likely ignore her claims of an enormous danger involved, one which necessitated the destruction of SR388 and its nearby Federation assets. They would surely have her head.  
  
And so Samus had reasoned. Due to this, she had been completely starved of work for some time now, and with her bank balance rapidly dwindling she had wondered how long she could keep up her traits of righteous bounty hunting.  
  
Samus' head drooped low as she prepared to slip into a restful sleep, but she jerked awake once more as a slow but shrill and high-pitched beep emanated from the ship's control panel, accompanied by a pulsing red light. This could only mean one thing. An incoming transmission.  
  
"Message Received - Priority: Urgent" spoke Adam, the ship's recently acquired AI. "The message appears to be emanating from an entirely automated source on a mining colony world nearby. The sender of the message is not stated, and the subject line mentions an urgent call for help to any freelance mercenaries in the area… want to hear more?" Samus merely nodded, quite aware that the AI had no way of seeing her, since her ship was not fitted with automaton cameras. However, she had also known the AI well enough to know that the details would be filled in whether she was interested or not. She could swear the real Adam had not been like that… maybe it was that the personality had been slightly changed in the conversion, or the conversion wasn't entirely accurate, or maybe it was just the mellowing effect time has on memories. It hardly mattered. Besides, her mind was already ablaze with speculation into what could have befallen the planet at hand. She was well acquainted with the details of the planet, having gone through the local data banks of her ship several times in an attempt to alleviate boredom.  
  
It was a fairly uninteresting rock, a standard oxygen and nitrogen atmosphere, continental landmasses making up 40% of the planet surface, the remaining 60% being underwater. It was a fairly large planet (small planets did not warrant the effort of constructing mining colonies, and were usually left deserted, or mined by mining ships), roughly 115% that of the galactic average size.  
  
A few seconds later, Adam engaged the holographic projector. Quite why though was not clear, as there was no apparent video feed, which was quite normal from an automatic source, as was the tinny, lifeless voice that began to ring throughout the ship.  
"This is an automatic broadcast to… (There was a slight pause, presumably when a separate sound file was opened to put the appropriate word into the sentence) all freelance mercenaries… (Another pause while another data file was selected) within a 5 deca-cycle radius of planet… (Pause) MU725. Our planet is in danger from… (Another pause for file selection, but instead of the usual disjointed speech, a piercing howl of electronic agony rang throughout the ship, causing Samus to flinch in her seat and clap her hands over her ears. Presumably, the data file with the appropriate voice was corrupted.)…we request your immediate assistance in dealing with this matter. A reward of… (Pause) 600,000 Federation credits have been offered to every mercenary who plays a significant role in the elimination of the danger. Map data with recommended insertion point, tactical data and data concerning the threat at hand follows on data bank transfer ports 2450, 2770 and 2590. End Transmission."  
  
600,000 Federation credits for each helper! It was a veritable fortune, and instantly gave Samus a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. What could have possibly motivated the inhabitants of a dirt-poor mining planet to offer such a gargantuan reward to any number of lowlifes looking to make a quick living and having some fun killing things in the process? What unknown force was laying the planet to waste? Samus opened the appropriate data ports and waited a few seconds for the data to transfer.  
  
"Adam, bring up the tactical data on the threat." Samus requested, and immediately wished she hadn't. Another wail of computerised torture echoed through the ship as the horribly butchered contents of the file were processed.  
This struck another chord of unease deep within Samus. Why was it that every electronic reference to the horror that was besieging MU725 was garbled beyond repair? Why was it that the transmission had been sent by an automatic system, rather than by one of the colony's inhabitants?  
"…Fine. Adam, bring up the map data that was transferred" said Samus, bracing herself for another cyber-scream. None came… the file was untouched, and began to display normally on the holographic projector.  
  
This raised yet another question about the situation. The threat data appeared to have been selectively damaged, rather than mass destruction wrought upon the data banks, which was the norm in these cases, as specific file deletion could only be performed with full administrator access to the system, or perhaps through pain-staking manipulation of the components of the data banks themselves, but this was near impossible, as miniaturization techniques had reduced the size of one file's physical storage space to sub-molecular proportions. The holographic map was poorly detailed and did not display the interior of any of the numerous large complexes that dotted the planet surface, though Samus had expected nothing else.  
"Adam, add the recommended landing point to the map." Sure enough, a red circle appeared on the hologram, centred on a point in the Northern Hemisphere.  
Samus turned the situation over and over in her mind for a few minutes, before finally issuing another order.  
"Adam, plot a course for MU725. Take us down at the recommended landing point." A red line showed the approach directory the ship would be taking to… a point around 10 KM east of the recommended landing spot?  
"Adam, what is the reason behind your disobeying the recommended path of action from my employer?" inquired Samus.  
"Long range sensor scans indicate a large amount of activity in close proximity to the co-ordinates given… in order to avoid risk of being overwhelmed by large numbers of an unknown foe, I have calculated a safer destination point." replied Adam, in its usual stale tone. "And besides, you of all people should know about disobeying the orders of an employer…" Samus decided not to argue, or to comment on the AI's strangely human response.  
  
Samus winced as the ship's thrusters swung the ship around at lightning speed to head to the new destination.  
All that was left for Samus to do was to prepare her mind and body…

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Author's Note : Done! Chapter Two is already well underway, whether it gets finished or not depends on the kind of response I get :) 


	2. Planetside

Author's Note: Well, I decided to get this done before any reviews were out, so consider yourselves privileged :P Anyway, as before, I own this story (and the Stomper you will see in this chapter, that was my own idea too), but everything else belongs to the Nintendo men. Reviews are appreciated, as always.  
Here goes…  
  
Chapter 2 – Planetside  
  
Samus jerked awake as she felt the familiar pull of natural gravity take hold.  
She had been asleep for most of the trip, in an attempt to regain her full strength. She felt rested, but still uneasy about the mission ahead. There was still too much she didn't know about the situation.  
With her worries in mind, she climbed into her gravity suit. She felt the familiar welcoming tingle of the upgraded power suit starting up, fusing to her body and integrating with her nervous system.  
"Equipment check … Plasma … OK, Ice … OK, Wide … OK, Wave … OK, Charge …OK, Phazon Beam … Damaged, Gravity Suit … OK, Varia Suit… OK, Phazon Suit … Damaged Missiles…" read the suits' visor display.  
The phazon components that had been damaged by Samus' near death experience with Metroid Prime, followed by the X parasites were lost forever it seemed, as there was no obvious way to repair them, considering she had only acquired them through a freak accident. She sighed… why was it she could never hang on to her most valuable suit components? First she had lost mother brain's hyper beam, and then the phazon beam and suit. Her current setup was hardly equivalent to what she had wielded in the past.  
She HAD tried to repair the suit components herself using a small quantity of phazon from Tallon IV, but gave up after nearly shattering her arm when she accidentally modified the morph ball system. She had enough to worry about in her life without tempting fate by tampering with the only thing that kept her alive on the majority of her missions.  
The light which had bathed the interior of the craft changed from a harsh yellow to a gentle grey… The ship had obviously entered the planet's atmosphere.  
A tiny patter began to echo throughout the ship, rapid yet quiet. Samus groaned slightly. Why was it always raining when she first visited a new planet?  
The ship settled down in a clearing in an area of dense vegetation, appearing like some absurd kind of giant blue fruit amongst the towering trees. Samus stood on the pressure plate that activated the exit teleporter on the craft, and immediately she knew she was in trouble.  
One foot was on a patch of waterlogged ground, the other up to the knee in a dull green slime, reeking with foetor and decay. Adam had landed the ship in the middle of a swamp!  
  
With a huge effort, Samus pulled her sunken leg free and placed it on the small patch of soggy turf on which her other leg already rested. She paused for a moment, before a thought hit her like a punch to the chest. Samus looked up, only to confirm the fears that had shook her seconds before. The ship was sinking!  
  
Reacting quick and thinking quicker, Samus sprinted along the length of the landmass before hurling herself forwards onto the bank of the swamp, before turning and watching in horror and dismay as the ship sank below the surface of the swamp.  
  
"Damnit! So I'm stuck on a miserable planet under attack by god knows what, and no escape route in case things get too much to handle… things just keep getting better and better…" Samus said to herself.  
  
Right, first things first. Samus bent her knees as much as she could, and then jumped upwards with all her might, taking advantage of the space jump feature that she had acquired aboard B.S.L to get herself above the trees. During her time in the air, she rotated around for a good look of the surrounding area. Sure enough, several grey shapes loomed in the distance, many with plumes of dark smoke rising from them, and a dull shine reflecting off the buildings from what little sunlight could get through the clouds and smoke. The suit informed her that the buildings she had seen lie to the West, so she immediately set off in that direction at a brisk walking pace.  
  
It had been a fairly uneventful trek, the fairly flat landscape proving little effort to navigate through. She stopped by a small river to catch her breath. Taking the risk of removing her helmet, she plunged her head into the murky waters, and drew it out again just as quickly, her hair whipping back and showering the area with tiny droplets. It was then that she felt it.  
A tremor shook the ground, causing Samus to stumble off balance and nearly plunge face first into the river. Samus sprinted the short distance to where her helmet lay, and jammed it onto her head with a force that nearly crushed her neck. She looked around frantically, trying to discern from where the tremor had originated from. That's when she saw it.  
  
A gigantic bipedal behemoth lumbered through the clearing, felling trees as it came. It was around 25 foot tall, and a grey organic sheen covered its skin. It's head seemed oddly large for its body. The arms of the beast were long and thick, apparently for grabbing prey. The creature's legs bulged with muscle, and Samus thought the creature could probably reach a quite considerable speed when it wanted to. Strangely, it was apparently devoid of weaponry except for two needle-like claws on the end of each of the largest appendages of its 3-fingered hands. The claws would be useless for slashing, and appeared much to thin to inflict any serious piercing damage. Samus guessed they were for injecting some kind of poison, which was unusual, as creatures of such a size usually used brute force to rend apart their prey.  
Its breath caused moisture clouds to form in the chilly air which Samus had previously been unaware of due to the suit's heating systems. The six eyes of the creature were not focused on Samus, but instead were scanning the trees immediately to it's left and right.  
The creature apparently spotted something, as it tensed for a moment, before forcing a tree aside with a swipe of its powerful arms, and seizing a much smaller, wolf-like creature that screeched and struggled madly in the vice-like grip of it's attacker. It was not long however, before the behemoth drove it's needle claws into the flesh of the prey, causing it to go limp within seconds, its eyes wildly rotating and flinching, as if the eyeballs themselves were trying to break free of their sockets and flee. Samus' suit revealed that there were still strong vital signs emanating from the wolf-like creature, indicating that it was not dead, but apparently paralysed. The larger creature opened its mouth, revealing… square, rounded teeth? The creature was obviously a predator, so why were it's teeth like that of a herbivore? Samus soon discovered why. The large creature grasped the smaller prey with it's teeth, with a firm yet surprisingly delicate hold. The creature then threw it's head back, swallowing the unfortunate prey whole. The creature stood still for a moment, before settling down into an apparent sleep.  
  
Samus took this opportunity to scan the beast. The suit gave out information in the form of diagrams and a dialog towards the bottom of her visor.  
"Stomper – Predatory creature of considerable size, common throughout MU725 and its neighbouring planets. The Stomper is heavily armoured, and capable of deflecting most forms of attack with no noticeable ill effects. The Stomper hunts by chasing down it's prey with considerable speed, before injecting a potent neurotoxin using it's needle-like claws. The neurotoxin causes permanent paralysis in all but the most resilient creatures, but the prey remains conscious. The Stomper then swallows it's prey whole using it's gigantic mouth and throat, and takes the prey into it's bizarre digestive system. Instead of digesting the biological material of the prey using digestive juices, the prey is allowed to lie untouched in the Stomper's stomach. The walls of the Stomper's stomach contain a unique cell culture that can create energy using the brainwaves of distressed creatures within the stomach. The Stomper generates nutrition using the conscious and distressed prey, and once the prey dies it is promptly ejected from the body. The digestion process is amazingly efficient, meaning that a Stomper can survive for weeks on around 20Kg of prey. All in all, a unique and powerful predator, certainly not to be taken lightly."  
  
Samus frowned upon reading this. She was in more trouble than she thought. Taking care to tread quietly, she tried to walk silently past the sleeping Stomper. Samus was a relative stranger to stealth, having only had to use it on her first excursion to Zebes, and more recently, in the proximity of the SA-X.  
She was almost past the sleeping beast when she caught a foot on a root protruding from the soil, and stumbled to the ground.  
  
Samus turned quickly, just in time to see the monstrous eyes of the Stomper snap open as the living tank scrambled to it's feet. Samus didn't think, she just acted. Rolling backwards moments before a huge arm swiped through the space where she had just lay. Samus got to her feet and fired a few beam shots at the creature's face, which bounced off in a strange fashion, bringing down trees and setting bushes alight around them. Samus let off a super missile in it's direction, which exploded against it's hide, but without causing any wounds. Samus cursed and jumped backwards just as an arm lunged for where she was.  
There was only one thing for it – it was time to run.  
Samus turned and sprinted as fast as she could, occasionally looking behind to see how far the Stomper was behind her. Progress through the thick vegetation was troublesome for her, while the Stomper pushed aside trees and bushes with the greatest of ease. No matter how hard she tried, every time she looked back the Stomper was a little closer to her. She threw herself to the floor just as a claw tore through the air above her, making a noise like tearing paper. The Stomper stopped and rounded on her surprisingly quickly, and brought it's foot down with crushing force on her before she could react.  
  
Ah, so THIS was why they called it the Stomper. Samus grunted with pain as the foot slammed into her at great speed. She was glad that the suit was designed to resist such punishment, or else every bone in her body would surely be shattered by now. But, sure enough, her visor display noted a sizeable amount of energy was depleted from the suit.  
The creature bent down towards Samus, bringing it's deadly claws ever closer to her. Samus could see that the razor sharp tips would easily penetrate even the strong plating of the Power Suit and find her flesh beneath.  
So, this was how she would die… deep in the stomach of a giant beast, completely unable to move, while the creature drew energy out of her last thoughts… waiting in agony until her suit finally gave up and let her die… No! She wouldn't let it end like this! She struggled as hard as she could, but could not move for the Stomper's incredible weight and strength. But then, an idea struck her.  
  
Taking full advantage of the arch in the creature's foot, she curled herself into morph ball mode. Sure enough, the creature lifted it's foot in surprise, wondering where it's quarry had gone. Samus used the opportunity to it's full extent. She rolled out and unfurled straight into a dead sprint, running for a gap in the trees, running faster and faster and faster until the thing she had prayed for happened. The suit's speed boosters kicked in, accelerating her to amazing speeds, sending her smashing straight through everything in her way. She didn't stop running until she was at the towering gates to the colony she had spied earlier. She had no intention of ever meeting a Stomper again.  
  
Author's Note: Whew! Certainly the most fun I've had writing to date :) Got plenty of free time at the moment, so if I am so motivated, chapter 3 may not be long away. Depends on whether I get any praise for my work. 


	3. Colony NH211

Author's Note: Yeah, got some good reviews! Thanks to all those who reviewed, I now have the energy to keep going! As per usual: I don't own Samus, or anything else that was originally part of the Metroid universe. They all belong to Nintendo. Quite a quiet chapter this, it's designed as a bit of a plot advancer (unlike the previous one). Anyway, enough chatting, behold...

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Chapter 3: Colony NH211  
  
Samus stood before the towering gates to the colony. They had obviously been in a poor, run-down state of repair before, as there were huge gaps in the metal plating which had hastily been patched over with odd bits of sheet metal. However, she was hardly surprised to see the walls and gates were further devastated, with huge slashes and huge chunks missing all along the length of the wall (which expanded as far as the eye could see in either direction), and the front gates, which were as thick as bank vaults, crumpled like tin foil, and hanging by one hinge each. Samus pondered what could have wrought such damage.  
  
Was it the Stompers? No… the colony could never been established in the first place unless the settlers had found a way to control them. She would have to ask one… if there were any left alive. And judging by the dismembered and decaying corpses littered about the place, it was looking less and less likely every minute.  
  
One thing that puzzled Samus was that even though there were more than enough corpses littered around, there was no sign of anything that could have done such an act. Peering along the main road of the colony, Samus could see all the way to the other end of the colony, far off in the distance. She searched the horizon carefully, but could see no activity.  
  
Feeling deeply uneasy, Samus advanced cautiously inside. She wished intensely that she hadn't become so paranoid over the years; it had advanced to the point where her mind frequently played tricks on her. Hearing a rustling to her right, Samus spun round, ready to unleash a deadly volley of plasma upon… a greasy newspaper tumbling in the wind?  
"Damnit, calm down you stupid fool!" said Samus under her breath.  
  
Still... the quiet was playing games with her mind. Had the threat already left, leaving only a decimated colony in their wake? Or were they still here, lurking just out of reach? But... it wouldn't be the first time that she had face enemies invisible to the naked eye. Samus flicked on her thermal visor, then the x-ray visor. Still nothing.  
  
Samus had barely been paying attention to the surrounding buildings. There were all kinds, small, huge, tall, wide, and for all purposes, there were banks, hospitals, business centres, and (Samus frowned) more than an average number of erotic establishments. But, no matter what the size and purpose, they all had two things in common. They were all run-down, many of the metal buildings were lousy with rust, and looked one stage away from collapse. It was obvious that this colony was little more than a squalid dump used to extract minerals. Being habitable was obviously second priority. Secondly, all of the buildings were damaged somehow, many critically, with large chunks of masonry missing, and smoke rising in huge towers out of the windows.  
  
It was at this point that the suit displayed its sensor readings on the visor display. "Seismic activity in the North." This was usually bad news. However, Samus needed to find a data centre to gather a more detailed map than the one she had, as her map was currently only flashing up the building the activity was in, rather than the exact room of the source. Almost in response the visor display flashed up. "Multiple electronic signals matching Colony Electronic ID located to the East." Multiple electronic signals...? That could be any number of things... in a civilised community. In a dump like this, Samus decided that the only thing it could really be was either the colony data centre, or a large number of surviving colonists, all triggering their distress beacons. Either one would be a positive find. Samus was caught in a dilemma. Should she investigate the probable large object to the North? Or check the possibility of information or, even better, survivors to the East? Samus decided it was better to get any possible survivors to safety first.  
  
Samus was walking west. If she ever intended to reach her goal, she needed a change of course. She turned around, and almost fell down in surprise at what she saw.

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Author's Note: Yeah, I know, I'm evil :P Don't worry, I'll try not to keep you hanging too long. But I have to hurry, school is coming. dun dun duuuuun! 


	4. Meeting the Colonists

Author's Note: Here's your relief! Have Fun! And guess what? I don't own any material from the Metroid universe. Thank Nintendo for that.

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**Chapter 4: Meeting the colonists**

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A... A CHOZO!?  
  
No.... Wait.  
  
There was a golden metallic sheen to the creature's skin. A fake Chozo statue.  
  
Samus despised these things, they were a mockery of the very nature of the Chozo; machines made for violence, modelled on a species more peaceful than any other.  
The space pirates had only ever made a few of these. It was obviously a space pirate creation, it used an enhanced galvanic accelerator (the favoured weapon of the space pirates) supplied with energy by an organic power core mounted in the chest of the beast. The Chozo believed strongly against using organic components in machines, they believed it was like slavery for the soul of the organs. No machine the Chozo had ever made featured organic components - they used other means instead, ones which no other civilisation had been able to replicate.  
Samus charged her plasma beam for a moment, jumping high in the air to avoid a volley of galvanic blasts, and then unleashing it squarely on the marauding statue's chest. The beast twisted around as its chest plating melted into a liquid under the million degree blast of energy. In response, it charged forwards, knocking a dent in the wall where Samus was a mere moment ago. Samus charged her beam again, ready to reduce the oozing organic components to charred dust and put the monstrosity down for good. She fired, but instead of the machine falling to the ground, the boiling energy shot into the machine's chest with a crackle, there was a moment's pause, then the same plasma blast shot out of the machine's mouth, hitting Samus square in the stomach. Samus screamed in incredible agony as the plasma's heat partially penetrated the suit's shielding, and inflicted grievous burns all across her body. She stumbled up to the statue, each step riddled with pain, twisting sideways to avoid another galvanic cannon shot. She plunged her arm up to the joint into the chest of the beast, grabbed a handful of the throbbing innards, and pulled as hard as it could. The beast fell to the ground, and the magenta glow of its eyes faded as its power supply ceased. Samus stumbled down a dark alleyway, looked around quickly for any threats, and upon seeing none, fell backwards to the ground, letting oblivion claim her.  
  
Samus awoke. Then a thought hit her. The statue might not have been the only one around. Showing any signs of life might bring a deadly barrage of gunfire upon her. She didn't know how bad the burns across her body were. She wasn't even sure she could still move. Samus tried moving her arm slightly. It was strange, it didn't hurt at all. She slowly took her time to check all her limbs. None of them hurt. Right then. Samus took a deep breath, and then sprang to her feet. It was quiet as it had been before her first encounter. Samus looked at her visor display.  
  
7 energy tanks depleted. 3 remaining. This was strange... She had taken 3 tanks of damage when the Stomper had brought its foot down on her, 3 when the plasma beam had hit her... where had the other one gone? The visor display blinked up "Damaged organ repair completed". Ah, that would explain it. The suit had sacrificed additional energy tanks to repair her damaged body. She was glad that the Chozo had covered every eventuality... the transformation to the Fusion suit had reduced the efficiency of the shielding, but the suit could still repair damage from anything that did get through. Coming to think of it, a visor message had appeared just after the stomper had half-crushed her, which she had ignored. It was probably a message saying that the damage to her bones had been repaired. Samus just hoped that the next time she got sprayed with something corrosive, or hit especially hard, that what got through the shielding wasn't enough to kill her anyway. Samus briefly had a horrifying mental image of the suit standing upright, motionless, with her smoking corpse still inside. She shuddered.  
  
Samus walked down the alleyway, ready to continue her journey. As she reached the mouth of the alleyway, she heard a low thump of a noise. Using lightning-fast reactions, she pressed herself against the wall, and watched as another fake Chozo statue stomped past, it's monstrous eyes casting light down the alleyway. Samus waited for several more seconds, and was glad she did so, as several more fake Chozo stomped past. If she went out, she would surely be spotted. There had to be someway to get around without being seen... Samus pondered for a moment, before an idea hit her. Bending her legs, she climbed the alley walls, jumping from wall to wall in an almost hypnotic and beautiful dance.  
  
Samus had been jumping from rooftop to rooftop for a while now, nimbly dodging the spots where the roofing had crumbled. It was getting close to midday now, and the heat rose off every flat surface in an intense haze, turning the horizon in every direction into a shimmering wall. Samus wondered how close she was to reaching the source of the friendly electronic signal. She stopped in the middle of a rooftop to check her map display. It looked like... it looked like she was right on to- The roof beneath her feet gave way, and she fell 8 feet or so and landed flat on her back, knocking the wind out of her, but not breaking anything, thanks to the suit.  
  
Samus stared at the ceiling for a brief moment, and was about to move when several gun barrels pointed at her from every direction. She recognised the type of gun. Most were L77 standard Federation issue laser pistols, though a few were P91 Special Federation Issue plasma rifles. Unless the Pirates had come largely underprepared (unlikely), the creatures holding the guns were the original human inhabitants of the colony. Space Pirates only used human weapons in the most desperate circumstances, as they were inferior technology, not to mention difficult to operate without opposable digits. None of the guns were capable of causing Samus much damage, but it's never wise to do anything to get yourself shot in the face. "Hey! Hey! I'm friendly! Relax!" said Samus with faked panic. Being relaxed whilst having more than 10 guns pointed at your face was a trait that quickly made people uncomfortable near you.  
"I think she's right... she doesn't look like anything else out there."  
"Yeah, let her get up, she's probably here to help."  
The guns were withdrawn, and Samus got to her feet.  
  
The room was full of cowering women and children, with only a few men dotted around the room. She also noticed that many of the walls were lined with computer banks. It must be the data room. How fortunate that she had found two of her goals at the same time!  
"Err... Hi." Said Samus, uneasily. She had never been good at addressing crowds. "My name's Samus Aran, and I got a distress call from this planet?"  
"Oh thank god! Our call was answered, and by none other than Samus Aran herself!" Said a male, who appeared to be a leader of the refugees, judging by the way the others paid close heed to his words.  
"Wow, err... nice to know you've heard of me". Samus stuttered, glad that her blush was not visible beneath her helmet. She was never meant to be famous. "But, can you answer a few questions I have? I kind of came here blind to what was going on."  
"Of course, right this way" the elder lead Samus to a small side room.  
"Right, first, what are we up against here? I mean I've seen the Chozo Statue drones but I-"  
"You mean the devil birds?"  
"WHAT did you call them!?"  
"Devil birds. They are surely the servants of Hades!"  
This irritated Samus. How dare they assume that the statue drones were anything like the real Chozo?  
"You un-informed, arrogant man! They are merely war machines made in the image of Chozo!"  
"Chozo? What are Chozo?"  
"The Chozo were... my adopted family, I suppose. A wise old race of bird-like people, who vanished years ago... The things you call the "devil birds" are merely the hideous creations of the Space Pirates."  
"I see... So the space pirates are here in greater force than I originally suspected."  
"What else are we up against?" Questioned Samus "Where to begin? The Space Pirates are swarming all over the north of the colony, taking over the mines in particular. We haven't seen many of them; mostly they just attack with the bird drones, and seem un-interested in the rest of the colony. Apart from a general racial urge to destroy it all. The wildlife have gone mad, tearing the colony to pieces. A lot of the destruction you probably saw on your way here was caused by a few angry stompers. Those cursed creatures have devoured more than their fair share of colonists... worse still, they've swallowed most of our Submission rifles too..."  
"Submission rifles?" Said Samus, wondering if this was the weapon that had helped the colonists settle here in the first place.  
"Yes, submission rifles. They're our method of controlling the more dangerous wildlife around here. A devastating mix of a heavy duty plasma rifle, fragmentation grenade launcher, and neurotoxin neutraliser."  
"Neurotoxin neutraliser?" "Yes, it's a strong antidote which is fired into the arm of a toxin-using creature, thus nullifying it."  
"You use this to control the stompers? How?"  
"Once they have no neurotoxin, they are virtually harmless, as they never damage their prey, so to finish them off, a soldier just allows himself to be swallowed, then shoots apart the soft stomach lining, causing fatal internal bleeding."  
"I see... ingenious..."  
"Yes, we put a lot of thought into it."  
"I wonder... you have many of these submission rifles left?"  
"One or two, but I fear they might not be enough to save us, should the enemy come around."  
"Can you do me a favour? Upload the weapon schematics to a computer with a Class XVI personal armor terminal."  
"Sure, but why?" questioned the leader, obviously unaware of the abilities of Samus' suit.  
"It's time for an update."  
  
Samus stood in the data transfer unit, and felt the transfer cables latch into the data ports of the suit.  
"New weapon types: Federation Plasma, neurotoxin antidote missiles - Weapon type 'Concussion grenades' incompatible.  
Samus smiled, and then confirmed the delete of the 'Federation Plasma' weapon data. It was weaker than her Chozo made plasma beam.  
She tested the antidote missile out. The missile had a needle sharp tip, with a small syringe on the end. The explosion would push the syringe plunger down, injecting the antidote into the target. Now she stood a fighting chance against the stompers.  
  
"What else is going on?" Samus asked the leader.  
"What do you mean?" answered the leader, genuinely confused by her question "Surely there must be some motivation for the pirates to arrive in such numbers... any idea what?"  
"Well...they are focusing on the mines... so they either came for the bizarre ruins we uncovered or for substance 213..."  
"Substance 213? What's that?" "Search for it in the databanks."  
Samus walked over to the console.  
"Display entry for Substance 213." Said Samus in a clear voice.  
The entry that popped up shocked Samus deeply, a blue glow highlighting the expression on her face. Substance 213.  
  
It was phazon.

* * *

Author's Note: Yeah, I know. Talky-Talky talk. Still, I put some action in, so you can't complain :P I'd like to thank my new beta-reader "bonerbaby" and I'll see you soon! 


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